My Brother's Best Friend • Prucan

The Sound of Music

It's been a month of not updating and writer's block galore.... SO ... here we go. My best attempt at writing this chapter I have been procrastinating for a month. 

As soon as the curtains opened on stage, Matthew beamed at his artwork under the bright lights. Behind him, Matthew heard a little girl gasp in awe at his artwork and he bit his lip to stop himself from grinning. He felt proud of himself but he also felt like he was being criticized in front of everyone he knew. Even though only a few people knew it was his artwork, he still felt super exposed. 

But he soon forgot about his nerves as he watched Natalia walk onto stage to begin act 1. The lights were set to their brightest setting, the music was playing, and the show was beginning. Matthew knew it was going to be good. 

~

The play was filled with singing nuns, high schoolers dressed like Austrian children, nazi-Alfred, and a surprisingly graceful Natalia. Matthew could hardly believe how they pulled that off in just two months. When it finally reached the closing scene, Matthew watched on in anticipation. He really wanted to see Arthur kiss Natalia. It was going to be the funniest moment of his entire life. Or so he thought, until he saw Alfred's face from backstage.

"Oh no." Matthew muttered, watching as Arthur and Natalia said their final lines before the kiss. Gilbert looked over at him in confusion but soon realized what he was worried about when he followed his eyes to Alfred's fuming expression backstage.

"Oh no." Gilbert squeaked, watching on as Arthur and Natalia inched closer. Matthew could see Alfred's eye twitching from all the way in the audience. As soon as Arthur and Natalia locked lips the audience cheered, but Alfred stormed off backstage. Matthew and Gilbert both looked at each other with a look of concern. 

"Remind me to avoid Alfred when I go home tonight." Matthew muttered, eliciting a chuckle from Gilbert. The two turned their eyes back to the stage and clapped as the curtains closed and then lights turned on. Everyone burst out into applause as the actors did their final curtain call. The nuns first, then the extras, then the "children", then Alfred and his "wife", then Arthur and Natalia, and then the stage crew. After everyone was done bowing and the audience was done clapping, Lovino jumped up on stage with a microphone and bowed. Everyone applauded and then went quiet as he turned on the mic. 

"I would just like to ask one more person to come join the cast and crew on stage for a round of applause. This year we had a very talented student design and paint the entire set all by himself. It took hours and hours of hard work and dedication, so will you all join me in a round of applause for Matthew Williams of grade eleven!" Lovino spoke, clapping as he made eye contact with Matthew. Matthew felt like he was going to throw up. Everyone's eyes were on him as he was ushered towards the stage. His face turned bright red as Lovino pulled him up onstage and the crowd erupted into applause. He took a small bow with a nervous smile plastered on his face and turned bright red as he heard Gilbert hooting and hollering from the mass of cheering people. 

Lovino hadn't told him he was going to be called up on stage! Though it was nice being recognized for his artwork, it was nerve-wracking taking a bow in front of the entire school. Matthew turned an even darker shade of red as he joined hands with the cast members for one final bow. As soon as the curtains closed on the cast, Matthew playfully hit Lovino on the arm. 

"You didn't tell me you were going to pull me up on stage you jerk!" Matthew exclaimed, smiling as Lovino laughed at his bright red face. Matthew was about to congratulate Lovino on the show when he saw Antonio sneak up behind Lovino and wrap his arms around him in a hug. Matthew laughed at Lovino's scream and then walked away to leave the two alone. 

Matthew made his way backstage in an attempt to find Arthur, but he was nowhere to be found. Neither was Alfred. Matthew shrugged it off and returned back to the auditorium, where people were waiting for their kids with flowers and congratulatory smiles. Matthew was about to return to Gilbert when he saw his parents waving at him from the other side of the auditorium. 

Matthew made eye contact with his parents and then looked over at Gilbert before motioning for the German to come with him. Gilbert quickly walked over to Matthew and the two made their way over to his parents. Matthew could clearly see Gilbert's nervous fidgeting. Though Gilbert had met Matthew's parents a billion times being Alfred's best friend, he was nervous now that he was secretly on a date with Matthew. 

"Matthew! Gilbert!" Matthew's mom said excitedly, giving Matthew a hug and a bouquet of flowers for his artwork. 

"Hi Mrs. Jones.. or.. uh.. Williams?" Gilbert nervously stuttered, holding out a hand for Matthew's mother to shake. Gilbert could never figure out the family's last name. Alfred had always preferred Alfred Jones, yet Matthew always called himself Matthew Williams. Jones was their father's last name, and Williams was their mother's maiden name, so Gilbert figured they just chose whichever one they preferred. It was quite strange. 

"How are you Gilbert?" Mr. Jones asked, giving a polite nod and a handshake to the nervous boy. 

"I'm great thank you. How are you?" Gilbert responded politely, his heart pounding as fast as it possibly could.

"I'm fantastic! There's only one problem. My wife and I just can't seem to find Alfred." Mr. Jones replied, furrowing his brow as he looked at the stage. There were a few cast members and their parents talking and exchanging flowers, but no sign of Alfred.

"I tried to find him earlier, but he was nowhere to be found." Matthew spoke, eliciting a slight frown from his mother. 

"If you see him, can you tell him we have a bouquet of flowers waiting at home? We have to get back home to feed the dogs." Matthew's mother asked. 

"Definitely. Um- there's a cast party at Ivan, Natalia, and Sofia's house that we're going to head to if you're okay with that!" Matthew stated, hoping his parents would let him go to the party. Gilbert had told him about it during intermission, and Matthew really wanted to go. It sounded like fun. Russians always know how to throw a good party. 

"You can go as long as you're being responsible. Don't forget your curfew is 1am. If you're not back before then you're grounded." his mom said, causing Matthew to blush a bit. She was embarrassing him in front of Gilbert!

"Yeah I promise I'll be back before 1! See you later. Love you!" Matthew blurted before giving his mom and dad a quick hug and dragging Gilbert away from his embarrassing parents. Gilbert laughed as Matthew frantically tugged him  back behind the curtain. Almost everyone had cleared out of the auditorium, with only Matthew, Gilbert, and a few other cast members left backstage.  

Matthew wanted to stay until everyone was gone so that he could admire the empty auditorium. No matter how empty the auditorium was after a performance, Matthew could always feel the energy of the crowd and the buzzing in his ears from the loud music. It was a strange, yet amazing, feeling. Matthew wanted Gilbert to experience it himself. So the two hid behind a pile of props until everyone had left, even the janitors. It was going to be an eventful night.

Omg I was just thinking that I could write a sister story to this story called "My best friend's brother" and it's this story but from the usuk perspective... I'm probably not going to do it but it sounded pretty funny in my head. ANywayyyyyyyy sorry I took a month to update! Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading!!!!